Instead of bristling at the low profile the Texans take into training camp, which begins July 25, take joy in discovering something before the rest of the world.

Any sloth could jump on the Beatles bandwagon after they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. None of those John Lennon-come-latelys could possibly know the joy and fun of being in Liverpool's Cavern Club in the early 1960s.

Remember, the Texans don't get bonus points for appearances on magazine covers or buzz generated in other outposts. Why should the season-ticket holder or the faithful fan who considers a Texans game must-see television fret over any lack of respect for the Texans? The more under the radar the Texans travel, the better their chances of ambushing some of the heavy hitters on the early-season schedule.

Why hasn't this guy been writing the football articles, and not John McClain? Either way, I like the piece, and it makes for good off-season filler. I don't know about making the playoffs this year (Although that would be keen), but I do think that the over/under being at 7.5 is a little insulting. I guess that's what I get for liking all of our off-season moves.

Did you read the "Reader's Comments"?
Dang, even after all the progress we've made, there are still some closet we-shouldda-drafted-whatshisname folks out there who will hate on our Texans until Smithiak drafts an over-hyped "Flava-or-the-year" RB or QB.

Did you read the "Reader's Comments"?
Dang, even after all the progress we've made, there are still some closet we-shouldda-drafted-whatshisname folks out there who will hate on our Texans until Smithiak drafts an over-hyped "Flava-or-the-year" RB or QB.

oh well, who needs 'em.

I hate reading the reader comments on any Chronicle story. Too many naive, stupid people making idiotic statements.

Personally I am done with these sorts of stories. How many times can the Chronicle write the story that goes:

1. Punchline punchline punchline boy these Texans have sucked over the years.
2. Nationally nobody knows about them.
3. Hey maybe this year they turn the corner.

I have had more than one national writer tell me that one reason why the Texans don't get more national pub is that the stories that come from the Chronicle are so puffy.

ProFootballTalk does a regular link dump of NFL stories from around the league year round. They struggle to find Texans stories that are worth putting in their link dump.

Compare and contrast.

One of the best players in the NBA,Yao Ming goes down last season, and not only does the Chronicle put detailed information about the injury on their site, but they also detail what his doctors and independant doctors say about the injury.

One of the best players in the NFL, Andre Johnson goes down with a knee injury last season and it takes a while before the Chronicle even reports which knee it is.

Why should the national media take the Texans seriously when the Chronicle doesn't report on them seriously either? I'm not saying they need to cheerlead or dump on them. I am just talking doing basic reporting.

Personally I am done with these sorts of stories. How many times can the Chronicle write the story that goes:

1. Punchline punchline punchline boy these Texans have sucked over the years.
2. Nationally nobody knows about them.
3. Hey maybe this year they turn the corner.

I have had more than one national writer tell me that one reason why the Texans don't get more national pub is that the stories that come from the Chronicle are so puffy.

ProFootballTalk does a regular link dump of NFL stories from around the league year round. They struggle to find Texans stories that are worth putting in their link dump.

Compare and contrast.

One of the best players in the NBA,Yao Ming goes down last season, and not only does the Chronicle put detailed information about the injury on their site, but they also detail what his doctors and independant doctors say about the injury.

One of the best players in the NFL, Andre Johnson goes down with a knee injury last season and it takes a while before the Chronicle even reports which knee it is.

Why should the national media take the Texans seriously when the Chronicle doesn't report on them seriously either? I'm not saying they need to cheerlead or dump on them. I am just talking doing basic reporting.

TC, that post spells it out quite plainly and loud! When the only written media in the 4th largest city in the USA (thus, no competetion or competence) give the fans and city of Houston, such crap coverage of the local team, it's no wonder the "national" press ignores us!
Jabba McLame, lil Dick (in)Justice, and the bumbling baffons at the comical.com are an embarassment to Houston sports reporting. If you pry Jabba from the buffet line and lil Dick from VY atheletic supporter, maybe we could get something resembling reporting!?

Part of my daily reading is redzone.org and I used to (back in '03) send the Chron Sports director (Cunningham at the time) copies of webpages showing how the Chronicle performed so miserably in terms of the volume of articles about the Texans vs other NFL cities news coverage of their teams. I was focusing on volume and not quality at the time -- quality and insight is another story .. Anyway he basically told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and to shut up and go away. They're the experts you know, and we're just fans that don't know anything. Jacksonville, Carolina and Buffalo were putting out more articles about their teams than our illustrious rag. - edit .. a quick count of the number of articles in the Florida Times Union about the Jags since June 1... [37]. The number of Chron articles about the Texans [19].

I'm sure they're 'gearing up' for a lot of coverage now with camp starting, but based on past history it's not going to be compelling reading.

I was in Cleveland on business about a month ago and the Plain Dealer had 3-4 articles in their paper every day about the Browns. Our guys were on vacation.

Chronicle coverage of the Texans is way below average in quantity and quality. I wish they had competition. Their writers have no motivation to dig for that extra fact or to write anything new and they don't realize that their institutional laziness has cheapened their products to the point where none of our 'serious' fans notice them any longer either. There are never any new angles - ever - it's the same old cookbook, quote sheet reiteration crap every year. I see articles that are boring, repetitive and lacking in passion. Manfull is a robot. McClain's blog is unreadable because he has become the figurative Verizon Guy with his network of titans and cowboys fans following him around. The columnists write so rarely that when they do decide to write something it's usually sounding off on old news or in the 'so-what, who cares about your opinion because you don't follow the team that closely anyway' category. Lance's blog is very good, but he's not a chron employee. Other than that, I think Chron sports is great.

Thank god for the ht.com news items and archive. Nick, Nick, Brooke and everyone else there do a fantastic job with that, and it's definitely become the best source for news on the team.

One of the best players in the NBA,Yao Ming goes down last season, and not only does the Chronicle put detailed information about the injury on their site, but they also detail what his doctors and independant doctors say about the injury.

One of the best players in the NFL, Andre Johnson goes down with a knee injury last season and it takes a while before the Chronicle even reports which knee it is.

Is that a fair comparison? NFL teams are far more guarded about injuries than NBA teams, for obvious reasons.

There's plenty of criticism to heap on the Chron, "the General" and Justice in particular, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame the national coverage of the Texans on the Chronicle. IMO Megan Manful does a fair job of covering the team and assessing its strengths and weaknesses, but the reality is the national sports media adopted a narrative about the Houston Texans that can only be shed by the team defying the stereotypical, simplistic expectations. I don't want to defend the Chronicle's coverage because I agree that it's subpar, but that unnamed national writer's excuse won't fly, either.

Relying on the Chronicle to form an accurate impression of the team is just flat-out laziness. Watch a game and form your own impressions accordingly.

Is that a fair comparison? NFL teams are far more guarded about injuries than NBA teams, for obvious reasons.

There's plenty of criticism to heap on the Chron, "the General" and Justice in particular, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame the national coverage of the Texans on the Chronicle. IMO Megan Manful does a fair job of covering the team and assessing its strengths and weaknesses, but the reality is the national sports media adopted a narrative about the Houston Texans that can only be shed by the team defying the stereotypical, simplistic expectations. I don't want to defend the Chronicle's coverage because I agree that it's subpar, but that unnamed national writer's excuse won't fly, either.

Relying on the Chronicle to form an accurate impression of the team is just flat-out laziness. Watch a game and form your own impressions accordingly.

Interesting. Although I believe Megan Manfull to be a nice young lady/sportswriter, I could go to the AP wire/HT.com web site, and repost what was written by others! That does not make for "insightful analysis" from the local birdcage liner or the staff. What has the HOF writer/and HOF committee voting Jabba done to elevate the "national" recognition of the Texans? Yes, winning and losing brings you the publicity (both good and bad) but, when this hack spends more time on his "movie" career and assine spots on chron.video, with the equally inept AM, you get wasted ink, poor coverage, and a fan base (who might not be as "impressionable" to form an opionion, from the play on the field) to know this product/team, and what they are about.

Besides "just" watching the game, maybe an in-depth report on the new players, how the player's are coming along with the ZBS under Joe Gibbs, the safeties relating to Ray Rhodes, progress on signing our draft picks, ect...What do we get instead??? "Cooke County" hype, AM sitting on Jabba's lap for Xmas, and Jabba eating his way thru another country, with camp two weeks away!

Luckly, we have internet bloggers, who are passionate about their team and offer (free of charge, except for their time and energy) incite, answers, and reporting/analysis on all things Texans.

I hate Chron.com comments, too. It's like this people do no research at all and just post anything.

Agreed, the comments are almost as bad writing as the actual columns/blogs themselves. Especially considering you have group of writers at the Chron that love to write negative and redundant pieces.

[You're late, my friend. I've worked for the Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I've also had stints at the Austin American-Statesman, Austin Citizen, Abilene Reporter-News, Chicago Sun-Times, Baltimore Sun and Washington Post. I've turned the resignation letter into an art form. And if you're not nice to me, I'll be gone from here so fast I'll be nothing more than the closest you ever got to greatness.--Richard]

Guess who wrote that in response to one of the comments left under his blog?
Our local Negative Nancy sports writer: Dick Justice. I was always under the impression that bouncing around from job to job is a bad thing? Perhaps not in the journalism world? He does great job of pumping himself up though, I for one would not be sad to see him go. Out of all the Chron sports writers he is, to me, the least talented (not saying much).

McClain on the other hand is just a closet Titans/Cowboys fan who is drawing a paycheck from the Chron.